Australia to double up on spin
AUSTRALIA have one eye on India, and Pakistan could be contemplating life without their most successful captain Misbah-ul-Haq when the final “dead” Test begins in Sydney on Tuesday.
Steve Smith’s Austra lians wrapped up the three-match series with a Test to spare in a dramatic second innings demolition of Pakistan in t wo sessions in Melbourne on Friday to open up new selection possibilities for Sydney.
Shattered Pakistan could be forced to look for a new leader with 42-yearold Misbah admitting he was thinking about retirement, possibly even before the series concludes in Sydney.
“I always believed that if I couldn’t contribute to the team then it’s no point staying there. I haven’t decided [about Sydney] but let’s see,” Misbah said after the tourists lost by an innings and 18 runs.
While the end looms for the man who has guided his country to more victories than any other Pakistan captain – 24 in 52 Tests – Australia have other considerations.
Spinners Steve O’Keefe and Ashton Agar have been included in a 13-man squad for a Sydney Cricket Ground wicket that is expected to turn.
Coach Darren Lehmann raised the prospect of playing two of his three spin options – the other is Australia’s most successful off-spinner Nathan Lyon – at the expense of paceman Jackson Bird, with an all-rounder coming in.
Austra lia go to India for four Tests in Februar y and March on li kely turning pitches, putting t he onus of O’Keefe and Agar to put in a good audition and sta ke a claim for a place on tour.
“It’s more than likely that we’re going to play two of those three spinners, which means we’ll also have to look to fit in an all-rounder,” Lehmann said.
Versatile Agar
“It might end up that someone like Jackson Bird could be the unluck y one who misses out, but that will depend on the condition of the SCG pitch.
“If it looks like it’s going to prov ide more assistance for the seamers then we still have t he option of play ing a ll t hree specia list quicks and just t he one spinner.”
The all-rounder option could rest between Zimbabwe-born Hilton Cartwright or Agar, who Lehmann puts in the versatile category, saying “he’s certainly got the talent to be a batting all-rounder or a spinning allrounder”.
Left-arm spinner Agar, 23, is on track to play for the first time since his only two Tests on the 2013 Ashes tour of England, where he scored 98 on his debut at Trent Bridge, batting at No11.
Agar has subsequently scored two first-class hundreds and eight fifties.
Pakistan are facing their 12th straight defeat since their last Test win in Australia in Sydney 22 years ago.
Misbah was disconsolate following the Melbourne second-innings debacle on good batting surface that had seen the teams score a total of 1,067 first-innings runs.
“After scoring 443 you should not be in that position to lose a Test match on the last day,” Misbah said.
“I think we should take the blame as a batting unit because the pitch was very good on the last day.”
Ponting joins T20 coaching team
Meanwhile, former Test skipper Ricky Ponting has been appointed as an assistant coach to the Australia Twenty20 international squad for next month’s series against Sri Lanka, Cricket Australia said yesterday.
Ponting, one of Australia’s greatest batsmen, will work alongside the interim head coach Justin Langer and interim assistant coach Jason Gillespie during the three T20 internationals.
The matches will be played in Melbourne (February 17), the Victorian provincial city of Geelong (February 20) and Adelaide (February 22).
The trio have been brought in with the core of the existing Australia support team in India ahead of a fourTest series at the same time as the T20 home series with Sri Lanka.
Ponting led his country in the firstever T20 international against New Zealand in 2005 before leading the national side in the first two editions of the ICC World T20 in 2007 and 2009.
He also coached the Mumbai Indians to the Indian Premier League t it le.